CB
by Jennahbird
Summary: Before he was the infamous A, Charles DiLauentis was a lonely young man stuck in Radley Sanitarium. His whole life changed when we met a girl who looked just like the person that ruined his life, his sister Alison. The story begins about six months before Alison's disappearance. I do not own any rights to these characters, just trying to make it til season six.
1. Chapter 1

C+B

Lonely was more than an emotion for Charles, it was his existence. He was never actually alone, he was always surrounded by nurses, orderlies and the constant noise from the other patients. Even with the commotion that seemed to always surround him at Radley Sanitarium he ached of loneness. He never had any friends, people he didn't mind being around in art class or in the rec room sure, but never any friends. Occasionally Charles would allow himself to remember what it was like to have a friend but the memories of laughing and playing outside with his brother Jason soon turn to pain as flashes of the moment he lost his best friend and his family came to his mind. These thoughts consumed him, he could feel the warmth of rage start to invade his whole body. His knuckles would turn white and he felt a total loss of control. After over a decade of living in an institution, first in Bedford Sanitarium and then in Radley, Charles knew himself enough to know that it is best not to think of such things.

"Charles, it's almost time for art class, you know how your mother feels about you skipping out on your weekly activities." Charles looked up at Nancy an elderly nurse who has always shown kindness and almost motherliness to him. With a deep sigh Charles responded, "I'm coming Nance, wouldn't want to disappoint Mother." With this snarky response he looked up at Nancy and smiled. "Now how can I get mad at such a snide comment when you flash me that legendarily smile?" Hesitantly, Charles walked down the hallway to make it just in time for his art class. He had grown tired of going to this class every Wednesday afternoon, it was always the same people and the subject matter had been recycled over and over again. His mother liked for him to in her words "actively participate" in all of the activities offered at Radley. He is pretty sure this is how she fools herself into thinking that her son is having a so called life. As Charles walked in the light-filled room he eyed a seat towards the back left part of the room. Once settled he scanned the room to see who was in attendance. As he looked to the right side of the class in the front row he saw a head full of wavy blonde hair and he suddenly felt that all familiar rage build up inside of him. The next thing he remembers is being held down by an orderly on the cold tile.


	2. Chapter 2

"Do you remember anything from the outburst Charles?" Charles kept his held down for most of the private session with Dr. Palmer. "Nothing after the trigger." He responded in nearly a whisper. It had been a long time since his last explosive outburst. He knew that this meant more therapy sessions, less freedom and no chance of being intergraded in the real world. "And what do you believe triggered this episode Charles?" Charles took a deep breath, he knew that when he told Dr. Palmer what his trigger was that it would opened up a conversation about what happened "that day". "I…I thought I saw her, Al…Alison." Just saying the name made him ill, and sad and angry all at the same time. " A girl I had never seen before was in the front of the class and her hair looked exactly like Alison's in the most recent picture I saw of her, I just…I thought it was her and I lost control. I didn't hurt anyone this time…did I?" "Just an easel luckily. Now Charles you know of course that was not your sister Alison, it was a new patient named…" "Stop! Don't call her my sister! I haven't seen her in almost ten years and she ruined my life!" Dr. Palmer shifted in his seat, though the orderlies where close by it made the doctor tense when Charles began to show signs of rage because of his size and strength, in his younger days this would not have phased him but after the altercation a couple of years ago that turned violent he is cautious. "If discussing her in a different way makes you feel more comfortable Charles, you know that is perfectly acceptable. We don't have to even say her name, she can go by A and he can call your brother J." "Okay, but I don't have a problem calling Jason my brother." Dr. Palmer finishing writing some notes looked up at Charles and smiled. He knew that Charles deep down was a good person. He looked forward to a day that he could see one of his favorited patients intergraded. "I believe it will be helpful for you to meet Bethany." "Who?" Charles had never heard of this name before. "Bethany is the blonde girl you saw at the front of class today, she is new at Radley and could use a friend." Charles' head popped up in shock, "I just had a full on freak out just by looking at the back of this girl's head and now you want me to meet her? No way, I'm not ready, what if she looks like…A?" Charles could hear that his voice was in a panic, the thought of him potentially hurting this girl was too much to handle. "I trust you Charles, I believe in you, and I need you to believe in yourself." Charles took a moment to reflect on how well he has done in the past few months before this outburst. Charles knew that he was a strong person, stronger than most everyone here. Dr. Palmer's words brought back his courage. Plus he knew that after this the orderlies wouldn't let him out of their sight so the likelihood of him hurting this girl was slim.

Almost as soon as Charles agreed, Dr. Palmer was taking Charles to the Rec room where he knew that Bethany was at. The sun was nearly set now which prompted the warm light of the lamps to turn on almost making the rec room look homey. As they approached the blonde girl Charles took several deep breaths in order to stay in control. "Bethany, this is Charles. I believe the nurses told you I would be stopping by to introduce you two." When the girl looked up at Charles she gave a shy nervous smile and quickly focused her attention back down at her sketch pad. Charles couldn't make out what she was drawing. Out of the side of her mouth Bethany responded "Hi." Charles couldn't help but smile, he quickly observed that while her physical features were similar, this girl was nothing like Alison DiLaurentis. "Hey, it's nice to meet you, I'm sorry if I scared you this afternoon during my…outburst." Dr. Palmer motioned for Charles to take the seat across from Bethany while the doctor chose a seat at the table next to theirs. "Truthfully, I didn't really let it bother me, the place I was at before was way worse than this, an episode like yours happened a lot. Although you are a pretty…uhh large guy to take down. Not large, I meant strong um…and tall, ugh you know what I mean." Bethany then broke out in a nervous laugh, this made Charles laugh as well. It had been awhile since he laughed with someone. "Sorry, I'm super awkward and I don't really know how to talk to people, especially guys my age." "Who said I was your age?" Charles realized that his tone was almost flirtatious and he didn't know quite how to feel about that. "Well, I am seventeen and if I had to guess I would say that you are maybe eighteen or nineteen?" "Close, I'm twenty-one." Charles responded. "I think a lot of people think I am younger than I am, maybe because at twenty-one you are supposed to be an adult but at Radley you are never treated as an adult, just a patient. To make things worse my mother works on the board and is always around trying to treat me like I am still the ten year old boy she left behind." Charles was taken back by how much he just shared with a stranger. He barely shares that much with the therapist. He glanced over at Dr. Palmer to see him hastily writing notes in his file. Charles leaned in towards Bethany to whisper with a smile "I guess the session isn't over." Bethany turned her glance to Dr. Palmer and when she did Charles studied her face. She had fair skin with just a few freckles across the bridge of her nose that sprinkled on to her cheek. Her nose was small with the slightest up turn. Her lips were small but shapely. Her face was attractive enough, her body was thin but not frail. He tried not to think about her hair that was to anyone else probably her most striking feature. When Bethany turned her gaze back to Charles he noticed her large dark eyes that contrasted deeply against her light hair and skin. Charles wasn't sure how many seconds they continued to look at each other's eyes but he knew it was probably a few seconds to long. "So… what's your diagnoses?" Bethany asked in a tone that screamed "subject change". Charles was a little thrown by the forwardness of this question. He was used to people being less direct, the nurses, the doctors and especially his mother all seemed to sugar coat questions or use euphemisms when discussing all things mental health. "Sorry, that was kind of rude huh? I told you, I'm really awkward." Bethany has the pencil back on her drawing pad now. "No, its okay, I mean, obviously we both that something wrong with us if we are here right? I have IED Intermittent Explosive Disorder." Bethany shook her head, "yup, that's what I thought it might be, because when you are not breaking easels and tossing paint all over the room you seem pretty normal." Charles wasn't sure if that comment was merely an observation or a mental patient's version of a compliment. "Well trust me, I'm definitely not normal. So how about you huh? What's you diagnoses?" Bethany look right into Charles' eyes and smirked "Nah, I don't think I want to tell you, I think you should guess." Charles wrinkled his forehead and lifted an eyebrow, "how is that fair?" Bethany smiled "I never said it was, but don't worry, after knowing me a little while my crazy will show and you won't have any problem guessing." Charles couldn't help but smile from ear to ear. Bethany looked back down at her drawing not brave enough to say what she was about to say while looking at him. "You shouldn't be allowed to do that you know." Charles was confused by what she was talking about, "do what?" "Smile like that, with those dimples my crazy might be a little harder to hide." Charles noticed Bethany's cheeks start to turn pink. Charles tried to get a good look at what Bethany was drawing, she was using one arm to block anyone from seeing it. Charles assumed it was private and thought he probably should stop trying to see it. Bethany, almost reading his mind asked, "Do you want to see it? "Charles responded with a simple nod of his head. When Bethany lifted the sketch pad Charles saw the image of a girl riding on a horse. It was very good her technic impressed Charles but he couldn't help but notice that while the horse was drawn beautifully realistic the girl that was riding the horse had an almost deformed face. He thought to himself was this how she saw herself? "It is lovely, you are really talented."

The two continued to talk until it was completely dark outside and they were the only patients left in the room. Even Dr. Palmer has left at some point. Finally a nurse came over to the table Bethany and Charles were having a lively conversation about the food at sanitariums at to advise them that it was bed time and they must return to their rooms. As Bethany gathered her things to stand up her pencil dropped back on the table, both patients reached to pick the pencil up off the table and moment Bethany's hand touched Charles he pulled his arm back. The touch felt almost electric and Charles immediately didn't know what to do with himself. "Oh uh sorry I um" Charles stammered. "It's okay, thanks." Now both of them were standing. After a short pause Charles began, "well thanks for the uh, conversation. I'm glad Dr. Palmer suggested it." Bethany looked up at Charles, her eyes somehow seemed even larger to him now. "Me too. I hope I see you tomorrow. Goodnight Charles." "Goodnight Bethany, it was great to meet you." The two started to walk in opposite directions to get to their respective rooms. Just before Charles turned down his hallway he looked back and saw Bethany was looking back at him smiling. Suddenly Charles became to be overcome by a feeling in his body, but this time it wasn't rage.


	3. Chapter 3

Most nights were hell for Charles. He would lay awake thinking about all that he was missing. His brother Jason would sometimes being videos to show Charles during his visits. Charles would use these images to fantasize would it would be like to live a normal life. This would usually bring pain to Charles. Some nights he would cry himself to sleep, another nights his anger would cause him to think about much darker and more violent things, thoughts that frightened himself. These restless nights would leave him wishing that when he woke up he was anywhere but Radley.

Tonight, however was different. Tonight he wasn't thinking about what was happening outside of these walls. He was only thinking about one thing, one person, Bethany. He had never met someone with whom he felt a connection with. He kept replaying their conversation in his head, smiling as he would remember the way she would awkwardly respond to him when she was nervous. Charles was completely and utterly charmed by her. He couldn't wait to talk to her again, he wanted to know everything about her. Charles thought to himself, "is this how normal guys feel when they like a girl?" For a moment Charles felt worried about developing feelings for someone, he'd come to realize that he doesn't have much control of himself when emotions are involved but then again, he has not felt emotions like this before…maybe this will be good for him, he thought. Flashes of Bethany's big brown eyes staring into his filled his mind as he drifted off to sleep. For the first time since he came her he was excited to wake up in Radley.

Charles woke up from his comfortable slumber as soon as the light started to drench the room through the bared windows. He sat himself up out of bed much quicker than normal. After a long stretch he got out of bed and onto the ground to begin his morning workout. Charles always enjoyed staying fit. He felt that it was one of the only things in his life he had control over. The doctors all told him that the exercise was very healthy for a person with his condition. Since he was after all, a mental patient he had no access to gym equipment so he had to learn to use his own body for resistance to gain strength. As he worked out he couldn't help but wonder if Bethany would notice his physique. He knew that it was shallow, but he couldn't help but want to gain that attention from her. When Charles was nearing the end of his workout he heard the steel door to his room open. In the doorway was Nancy holding a cup of pills and some water. "Alright Rocky time to take your meds." Charles hopped up from a push up position to his feet with a bounce that he knew Nancy would notice. He grabbed the pills from the nurse and took them with a large gulp of water. Without waiting for the nurse to ask he opened his mouth wide. "AAAAHHH, see no cheating!" "Well Charles, you seem… chipper this morning. Is it because your mother is taking you on an outing today?" Charles gave Nancy a nod and she exited the room. With his mind being annexed with all things Bethany Charles forgot that today his mother planned on taking him to an art gallery in Philadelphia. Charles became disappointed because this meant that he may not get a chance to see Bethany today. He knew there was no way he could get out of spending the day with his mother so he thought of a plan that would shorten the outing while also make up for not seeing Bethany.

Charles searched for any sign of Bethany while he walked to the exit where his mother would be waiting for him. He hoped that if he saw her he could explain that he would be gone most of the day but that maybe in the evening they could get together. As he got closer to his mother he knew that his hopes of seeing Bethany before he left were lost. Jessica DiLauentis looked perfectly put-together even in her winter outerwear. "There's my sweet boy!" Jessica reached her arms out to embrace Charles. Even though his relationship with his mother was complicated beyond words Charles still loved being held by his mother. "Are you going to be warm enough in that? You should be really wearing a hat." " I'm fine Mom, in fact I didn't wear a hat on purpose. I was hoping that instead of going to the art gallery that you could take me to get my hair cut?" Charles knew that his mother would give in to this request because she was always on him about cutting his hair. Charles hair was shaggy and un-kept and it drove his mother mad. "Of course we can! I'll call my girl in Brookhaven from the car." Charles smiled, Brookhaven was much closer to Radley than Philadelphia was and there was a store that he planned on stopping at afterwards. The mother and son walked out of building and made their way towards the car.

"Dr. Palmer tells me you made a friend, is that true?" Jessica asked her son this question with excitement laced with worry. Charles squirmed in the passenger seat as he thought of how much to reveal about his new friend to his mother. A part of him wanted to share with her exactly how this girl makes him feel. Another part of him worried that if his mother didn't approve of him developing feelings for a girl that she had the influence to make sure that Charles didn't get to see Bethany. HE carefully answered his mother. "Yeah, he introduced me to a new girl she's…alright. I mean she's pretty easy to talk to so that's good." His mother's head snapped his way, "new girl? Who Bethany Young?" Charles was confused by his mother's reaction. "Um yeah I guess that's what her last name is. Do you know her or something?" Jessica quickly gain her composure back, "Darling, I'm a board member I know almost everyone there. I got a chance to meet her and her parents before she came to Radley. Lovely girl, and her parents are great too. Her father is very loving and supportive of Bethany's recovery. In fact, I promised I would take care of her for him, even take her on some outings." Charles processed this information his mother just provided. Jessica's involvement at Radley had always been mostly about him. She had never signed out another patient besides himself. What could be her reasoning for wanting to spend time with Bethany? Charles knew that it would be best not to let his mother know of his feelings about this girl yet. Soon they had arrived at the hair salon and Charles and Jessica walked the brick path to the entrance.

After the hairdresser finished stylings Charles new hair cut she turned his chair around to let him see himself in the mirror. His mother came up behind him, "look at how handsome you look! I am blessed with such beautiful children." Charles looked at his mother in the mirror and smiled. It was nice to hear his mother talk about him as part of the family not just her son in Radley that no one knows about. "Thanks Mom. Hey, do you think that after this we can go to that art supply store on the next block?" The two left the salon and promptly made their way down the street in the frigid winter air. They had been to the art supply store before. A couple of years ago Charles became very interested in oil painting and his mother would bring him here to get better brushes and paints than what was offered at Radley. Charles perused the store until he found the section he was looking for. Charles carefully picked out some charcoal and graphite pencils of different hardness. He then gathered some pastels, erasers, and last he found a leather bond sketchbook. His mother watched him as he made his selections. Jessica tilted her head and crossed her arms, "Charles, tell me, since when did you become interested in drawing? I thought that painting was more your…forte?" Charles knew his mother was suspicious, could she have known about Bethany's hobby?" Charles smiled at his mother, "Yeah well you're always saying I should try new things so I'm giving it a shot." Jessica walked up to her son and grabbed the items out of her son's hands to bring them to the checkout counter. "Is there anything else you need my dear?" Charles felt a little guilty lying to his mother, but he wasn't ready to tell her about Bethany. "No Mom, this is great thank you so much." Jessica smiled at her son "You are welcome my sweet boy, anything for you." Jessica walked up to the counter with the products she was purchasing. As the clerk was ringing the product Jessica spoke up, "This is a gift, do you have any nice boxes or bags?" This left Charles frozen. His mother knew that he was lying, she knew that he was planning on giving these supplies as a gift to Bethany. She must also know that it means he has feelings for Bethany. As Charles and his mother reached the door to exit his mother turned to him and handed him the bag that held the gift for Bethany. "Be careful Charles, I don't know what I would do if you got hurt." And then his mother did something that surprised Charles. Jessica hugged Charles tight and looked at him as if she was happy for him. "Thanks mom."


	4. Chapter 4

Charles and his mother stopped at a bistro in Brookhaven before heading back to Radley Sanitarium. Jessica signed her son back in and let him know that she had some business to attend to. Charles made his way to the recreation room. He scanned the room for Bethany with no luck. Charles felt a pain of disappointment as he walked back to his room. Charles laid down on his bed and grabbed a book to read in hopes of distracting him from thinking about Bethany. He stared at the words on the same page for several minutes. A welcomed knock on the door prompted Charles to put down the book and look at the door. His mother was in the doorway. "Honey I wanted to say goodbye before I left. Also, I spoke with Bethany's father. He was hoping to find a tutor for Bethany, she is taking the GED in a couple weeks and I recommended you. I told him that you are brilliant and that you have even been taking some college classes online. He agreed it was a good idea. So what do you think?" Charles was torn, he was excited at the prospects of seeing Bethany on a regular basis but he couldn't understand why his mother was doing this. Why is she seemingly pushing them together? Charles looked at his mother hoping that she would give something away that would help him decide what to do. He knew that something was going on but he knew that if he said no he would be filled with regret. "Yeah I can do that, when does he want us to meet?" Jessica looked at her watch. "Every week day at 3:00 o clock, which is in about 15 minutes. I have reserved the study room in the library. The staff knows all about it." Jessica said her goodbyes and left a few minutes later.

Charles got to the study room a couple of minutes early. The bag that held Bethany's gift was placed in the chair to the right of him. The study room had two walls that were made of double paned glass so anyone in the room could be watched by the librarian and orderlies at all time. While he waited, Charles looked out at the familiar library. It was small and all of the books were covered in dust but this had always been Charles' favorite place in Radley. He read every book that he found remotely interesting. The selections of books were of course limited. Nothing with violent or mysterious themes were allowed in the library.

Charles had been waiting for what seemed like forever but was really only about fifteen minutes. He wondered what was keeping Bethany. Had his mother been wrong about the time they were to meet? Did Bethany decide she didn't want him as her tutor? Did he misread the flirting yesterday? Charles felt himself start to tense as the anger starting to well up. He took in several deep breaths in order to maintain control of himself. He knew that if he escalated he wouldn't be allowed to tutor Bethany. Charles kept his face down towards the table while under the table his fist were clinching on to his pant legs. His breathing turned shallow and he worried that it was happening he was losing control. Just as Charles was about to explode he heard a muddled voice. "Hey…hey Charles are you okay?" Charles looked up and there she was standing right in front of him. Charles' face was beet red and tensed in a way that made him look like a different person. Bethany looked back and was relieved to see that no one was looking into the room to see him about to explode. "Charles listen to me, breathe Charles, its ok you can breathe through this." Bethany sat across from Charles and grabbed his hands. "Look at me, look at me Charles". He finally met her eyes he couldn't make out what she was saying but he felt himself calming down. Charles continued to breathe and then he closed his eyes. He felt himself come out of the fit. Charles opened his eyes moments later. Suddenly he was aware that she was still holding his hands. Charles began to open his mouth to speak but all that came out was a quiet "hi." Bethany let go of Charles' hands and sat back in her chair in relief. "Hi crazy" Bethany said with a laugh. "I... I'm sorry you had to see that…again." Charles felt mortified that she saw that he almost lost it because he thought he was being stood up. He just hoped that she didn't figure out what cause the episode. "Well I'm not sorry I saw it. So what, you had an episode and I was here for it. If we are going to be friends we are going to see this side of each other. I didn't have a very good day myself. That's why I was late I had to have an emergency session with Dr. Palmer." Charles sat up in his chair concerned. "What happened? Are you okay?" Bethany look away from Charles for a moment. The color in her skin drained and she looked suddenly deflated. "Yeah, I just talked on the phone with a friend from my old high school, she just told me that my ex and one of my best friends are together and I kind of flipped out. It's not that I'm jealous because I'm not! He's just a bad guy and I know that because I am unstable no one believe me about what he did including her. And now he's going to do that same to her as he… you know what, I can't talk about this anymore I don't want to think about it anymore"

Charles thought about what he just heard. He was surprise to hear that she has an ex-boyfriend. He isn't sure why he didn't think about the possibility, he knew that she hadn't been a mental patient most of her life like he had. Charles starting to reach for the bag that he had almost forgot about. "Wait a second!" Bethany's toned changed quickly, "you cut your hair, it looks great!" Charles smiled shyly. "Yeah I did, my mom signed me out today and she insisted." Charles felt butterflies in his stomach. She noticed. He wondered if she knew that he was lying about his mother wanting him to do it. Does she suspect that he really did it for her? Charles lifted the bag from the chair on to the table. "I have something for you." Bethany looked genuinely shocked. She smiled while she lifted a yellow box out of the shopping bag. "I can't believe you got me a gift, you really didn't need to that." Bethany opened the lid of the box and her face lit up. Charles felt so happy seeing her excitement. Bethany held the art supplies in her hands and looked up at Charles. "I love it so much, thank you I can't wait to use all of this!" Charles responded "I'm glad you like it, I noticed yesterday you were using a number two pencil and what you were drawing was fantastic, so I figured if you had the right tools…" Then Bethany did something Charles wasn't expecting, she stood up out of her seat and came over and hugged Charles' shoulders. Charles savored every second of her embrace. This was the point he knew that he was a goner. This would ultimately be more than just a passing crush for Charles. Feeling her arms around him, smelling her scent, he never wanted it to stop. Bethany squeezed him tightly and then pulled away and returned to her seat. Charles could see that her cheeks were flushed. "So I guess we should uh study huh?" Charles said to break the post hug awkwardness. "Yeah, that's right you're my new tutor." Bethany pulled her GED book out of her bad and the two began to get to work.


End file.
